The present invention relates in general to clothing and in particular to a new and useful brief which is particularly suited to persons having a physical disability or impairment.
For elderly people or people suffering from a permanent or temporary disability which impairs their movement, it is sometimes difficult to don and remove conventional briefs.
Particularly with people suffering from back pain or injury, it is difficult or sometimes impossible to bend sufficiently to don the conventional garment.
A garment which can be worn without requiring any bending would be particularly useful to such people.
Briefs and diaper structures are known which have detachable sides so that the garment can be donned without requiring the person to bend over in any way. One example can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,440 to McGowan which shows briefs for a handicapped person having front and rear panels which are connected at the crotch and which use hook and pile (Velcro, a trade name) fasteners. This garment still requires one of the large panels to be drawn up around the crotch area and then fastened at the sides.
An arrangement having a detachable crotch area as well as detachable sides is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,763 to Abrams et al. This structure also uses hook and pile fasteners with totally detachable front and back panels. A problem with this structure is that the front and back panels must be aligned correctly before they can be attached. This may require even more maneuvering than would be used in conventional brief designs.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,501 to Erickson et al shows an abdominal scultetus which is fastenable at the sides by a pleurality of horizontally extending hook and pile fasteners. The complex design is particularly useful in dressings for people who have undergone surgery.
Other designs for diapers and brief structures can be found in the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,493,113 to Dance
U.S. Pat. No. 2,431,571 to Lehr
U.S. Pat. No. 2,500,432 to Ravkind et al
U.S. Pat. No. 3,207,155 to Casey
U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,230 to Lafleur.